bail

plural bails

1. countableuncountableSecurity, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.

   He was granted bail for £20000.

   3 more examples

   I ſuppoſe vve ſhall hardly Rehearſe the Comedy this Morning; for the Author vvas Arreſted as he vvas going home from King's Coffee-houſe; and, as I heard, it vvas for upvvards of Four Pound: I ſuppoſe he vvill hardly get Bail.

   1736 March 16 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Henry Fielding, Pasquin. A Dramatick Satire on the Times: […], London: […] J. Watts […], published 1736, →OCLC, Act I, page 1

   The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution forbids excessive bail, and state bail laws are usually designed to prevent discrimination in setting bail.

   2009, George Cole with Christopher Smith, The American System of Criminal Justice, International Edition, page 338

   The purpose of bail is to ensure the return of the accused at subsequent proceedings. If the accused is unable to make bail, he or she is detained in jail.

   2011, Larry J. Siegel, Criminology, page 658

2. UKcountableuncountablelawRelease from imprisonment on payment of such money.
3. UKcountableuncountablelawThe person providing such payment.
4. countableuncountableA bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.

   The bail of a canoe […] made of a human skull.

   1770, James Cook, Voyages Round the World

5. countableuncountableA person who bails water out of a boat.
6. countableobsoleteuncountableCustody; keeping.

   Silly Faunus now within their baile.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

present singular third person bails · participle present bailing · participle past bailed · past bailed

1. To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.

   For the first time, the arrests broadened beyond payments to police, with a Ministry of Defence employee and a member of the Armed forces held by police before also being bailed to a date in May.

   2012 February 11, David Barrett, “Rupert Murdoch moves to reassure Sun staff after arrests”, in The Telegraph, UK

2. lawTo release a person under such guarantee.
3. lawTo hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.

   to bail cloth to a tailor to be made into a garment; to bail goods to a carrier

4. intransitivetransitivenauticalTo remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.

   to bail water out of a boat

   2 more examples

   we had hard work to reach our haven, having to bail out the water with my straw hat.

   November 4, 1857, Henry William Harper, letter to St. John

   ‘Bail out! bail out!’ yelled Job, ‘or we shall founder.’ I seized a large tin bowl with a handle to it, which was fixed under one of the seats, and the three of us bailed away for dear life.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

5. transitivenauticalTo remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.

   to bail a boat

   1 more example

   By the help of a small bucket and our hats we bailed her out.

   1840, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, Chapter XVIII

6. To set free; to deliver; to release.

   Ne none there was to reskue her, ne none to baile.

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 7

present singular third person bails · participle present bailing · participle past bailed · past bailed

1. intransitiveslangTo leave or exit abruptly.

   With his engine in flames, the pilot had no choice but to bail.

   1 more example

   The Teacher Home Visit Program takes a huge commitment—time, energy, patience, diplomacy. Quite a few schools […] have tried it and bailed.

   2010 September, Jeannette Cooperman, "Bringing It Home", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 62

2. informalintransitiveTo fail to meet a commitment (to a person).

   And I ain't got no help. Goddamn Fitch bails on me, scrambles over to Finance.

   1999, Robert Draper, Hadrian's walls

   3 more examples

   "No one bails on Bennie Milagros. No one, comprende? I'm gonna hold you to that midnight run — "

   1997, Eric Lustbader, Dark homecoming

   A guy who bails on his young wife and son the way he did. Leaving us to fend for ourselves.

   2010, David Handler, The Shimmering Blond Sister, page 119

   "We'll just tell Peter that you got called back to work. He bails on vacations all the time for that reason."

   2010, Deborah Cooke, Whisper Kiss

plural bails

1. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).

   1 more example

   I reached across beneath the cow to attach a metal bail to each end of the strap so that the bail hung about 5 inches below the cow's belly.[…]While stroking and talking to the cow, I reached under and suspended the machine on the bail beneath the cow, with its four suction cups dangling to one side.

   2010, John M. Findley, Just Lucky, page 78

2. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).

   2011, Edith H. Whetham, Joan Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume 8: Volumes 1914-1939, page 191, Ten men thus sufficed for the milking of three hundred cows in five bails, instead of the thirty men who would normally have been employed by conventional methods.

   1 more example

   1953, British Institute of Management, Centre for Farm Management, Farm Management Association, Farm Management, 1960, John Wiley, page 160, More recently, the fixed bail, sometimes called the ‘milking parlour’, with either covered or open yards, has had a certain vogue and some very enthusiastic claims have been made for this method of housing.

3. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
4. AustraliaNew ZealandA frame to restrain a cow during milking or feeding.

   She had the next bail to me, and told me off in between bucketfuls of milk.

   1933, Frank Clune, Try Anything Once, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 27

   1 more example

   But until he had poured enough milk into the vat above the separator, I drove unmilked cows into the bail where he had previously milked and released one. He moved from one bail to the other to milk the next one I had readied. I drove each cow into the empty bail, chained her in, roped the outer hind leg then washed and massaged the udder and teats.

   2011, Bob Ellis, Hush Now, Don't Cry, page 153

5. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
6. ball gamesOne of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.

   As Jason Roy's throw came in from deep mid-wicket, a diving Guptill was short when Buttler removed the bails, sending England and the whole of Lord's into delirious celebrations.

   2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport, London

7. furnitureNormally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.

present singular third person bails · participle present bailing · participle past bailed · past bailed

1. To secure the head of a cow during milking.

present singular third person bails · participle present bailing · participle past bailed · past bailed

1. rareTo confine.
2. AustraliaNew ZealandTo secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
3. AustraliaNew Zealandusuallywith upTo keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up.

   While celebrating our “graduation”, a handsome Scot bailed me up outside a pub and insisted I help him solve the cryptic crossword.

   2023 January 31, Clem Bastow, “My bad trip – I met a handsome Scot with a crossword and thought it was true love”, in The Guardian

   1 more example

   The transition over the rooftop would have been quicker if Sellers had not been bailed up by a particularly hostile spiritual presence speaking Swedish.

   2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 128

plural Bails

1. A surname.